Wisconsin and Georgia are suspending road tests needed to get a driver's license, but teens can still get behind the wheel without it

• Wisconsin and Georgia are allowing teens to get their driver's licenses without taking road tests during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
• Each state requires teens to finish their education and behind-the-wheel training, as well as receive parental consent before they get their licenses.
• The states said waiving the test helps people maintain social distance during the pandemic.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Wisconsin and Georgia have suspended road test requirements for new drivers during the coronavirus pandemic, but teens can still get their licenses without it.

The Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles announced the policy change on Tuesday, saying that starting May 11, any 16-year-old or 17-year-old who has completed their behind-the-wheel training and education will receive their license without the road test, as long as they have permission from their parent or guardian, KARE 11 reported.

Georgia made a similar announcement last week, saying teens can still get their license without the road test during the pandemic. In Georgia, close to 20,000 teens have already gotten their licenses during the suspension, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

Spencer Moore, the commissioner at the Department of Driver Services, told CBS affiliate WSB-TV: "What the executive order does, it allows the teen driver to go to that next phase without having to take that road test because of social distancing problems, obviously, in trying to provide the test."

Wisconsin DMV administrator Kristina Boardman told KARE 11 that despite some expressing fears about teens getting their licenses without the test, those who complete their training and education pass the road test at a "very high rate."

"We have a backlog of about 16,000 road tests," she said. "We anticipate, based on the number of under-18's that maybe 10,000 of those would be eligible for the waiver if their parent agreed."

She said the pilot program of waiving the drivers test allows parents to be the final judge of their children's driving capabilities.

Boardman told KARE 11 that the policy is only temporary for now, but there's a chance it could become permanent.

"We're going to have some people that are having the test waived, we're going to compare those results on their driving behavior post-licensure to those that did not have the road test waived," she said. "We're going to look at that and we want to be transparent about that data that we're collecting, and we're going to be sharing that data with the legislature."